Incendiary
by lilmissgoten
Summary: There's something evil in the Dead Marshes, something hungry, something that's caught trail of Frodo, Sam and Gollum. Can the trio escape this creature and avoid its' twisted game of cat and mouse? *Includes chapter previews and Hobbit blood =P*


Oooh my first lotr fic ^^;; *Prods it* I hope it's ok ^___^ Well, I guess you should read and then tell me if it is 0_____o  
  
Fayora the fairy: Was that a subtle plead for reviews...? ^^  
  
Me: ... Yes ^-^... now shut up and go back to your cage -_-;;;  
  
Fayora: x_X Yes master *Slinks off*  
  
Summary: There's something evil in the Dead Marshes, something hungry, something that's caught trail of Frodo, Sam and Gollum. Can the trio escape this creature and avoid its' twisted game of cat and mouse? *Includes chapter previews and Hobbit blood =P*  
  
This chapter: Everyone's being hunted down ^^ Frodo's getting freaked out, Sam's just plain scared and Gollums clawing at everyone @_@;;; Oh and we get to see our evil huntress ^^ No blood or gore this chapter. I think chapter two will deal with that ^.~  
  
Incendiary  
  
Chapter one: The Huntress  
  
"How did I end up in this god forsaken wasteland?" Satomi muttered bitterly, her breath coming out of her mouth in thin whisps of white smoke. The sun shone weakly through the anorexically pale sky, barely giving out enough light to see, it was almost as if it couldn't be bothered to work up any energy. Well, if the sun was being lazy then the wind must have been making up for it as ferocious blasts of ice-tipped wind cut across the marshy landscape. It curled around Satomi's body and gripped around her face like a strong, glacial hand.  
  
She stood her ground defiantly, turning and facing the wind in a challenge. It seemed to push harder and shrieked out a high- pitched protest to her actions. Satomi wouldn't be put down though as she made her way forwards, almost mockingly. "The air smells like fire here," she muttered, breathing in the charcoal- like odour that the wind dragged alongside it. She pondered this for a moment before glancing down and studying the sloppy mud beneath her more carefully.  
  
Satomi knelt down, her long hair whipping behind her in untamed fury. Her cold green eyes searched the ground for signs of life, not the cry of a bird or the chirp of a cricket could be heard for miles around. All seemed silent- eerily silent, like something was near, waiting to pounce if a noise or word was uttered. Waiting to rip something apart.  
  
Even the smallest rustling sounds of Satomi's cloak were heard as clear as day in the still air. Her breathing sounded ragged and heavy as she searched; she was drawing attention to herself. That didn't stop her though as she carried on. A small patch of bent and broken grass stalks suddenly drew in her attention.  
  
They were flatter and more dishevelled than the lush stalks around them, and there was an odd way that a path seemed to have been gouged through the grass. It stretched on in a semi- straight line, reaching out into the empty plains; that could only mean that it was made by something alive, moving certainly towards a particular place. Beasts don't plan the way they walk, they stop regualrly, pausing and back-tracking, changing in different directions. Only man and monster have planned routes.  
  
Satomi scowled, neither man nor monster welcomed her kind, but she didn't care. She was vicious enough to handle either. The strange girl took another second to judge the weight of the creature, it didn't seem heavy as the grass stalks had barely bent in places. It was something agile but light, but as Satomi knew even the most weightless of creatures can kill with deadly precision. She allowed herself to grin bitterly, if there was something she reigned supreme in, it was precision. Agility was another speciality of hers. Well, only the swift survive.  
  
Satomi wasn't, however, a light being. Her foot sank deep into the mud and she scowled icily as it was pulled in with a sickening 'plop.' Sure, she wasn't fat, but her race was built for brute strength; there was no room for daintiness among warriors. Satomi wheeled around, turning her back to the wind and drawing her black hood over her head. The wind whistled gleefully as the warrior gave up her defying stance against it and started to briskly walk in the other direction.  
  
~*~  
  
"Miles of mud and sludge, that's all there is out here." Sam grumbled, despising the never-changing scenery of the Dead Marshes. They seemed specially designed to strike despair into the heart- well anywhere near Mordor seemed to have this unique quality.  
  
"Don't feel down Sam, Smeagol said we'll soon be out of here and he knows what he's doing- at least I think he does." Frodo said in an unusually merry way. He seemed to be feeling a little better than he had been on previous days; at one point Sam had been afraid that he might break down. Just seeing Frodo cheer up put Sam in better spirits but he still had a dark cloud over his mind. A lurking feeling of dread had recently settled right over his heart, it was as if there was an aura of evil around them and he kept looking over his shoulder at whispers of the wind.  
  
He also had that feeling you get when you think you're being watched, when you feel like running to somwhere warm and safe, somewhere to hide. Sam shivered involuntarily and answered at length, "I s'pose so."  
  
Unknown to the hobbit, Gollum was having similar thoughts. There was something evil in the air and once or twice he thought he'd caught a strange scent on the wind. It was like blood mixed with flowers- something musty with something sweet. He pondered this and turned, looking down the path from where he had just came. There was no sign of life at all, save the wildly growing grass and the occasional ripple of water, blown by the wind.  
  
"What's wrong there Smeagol?" Frodo asked nicely, he had figured out that the best way to get a response from the creature was to be polite. Gollum ignored him for a moment before turning back and staring up the path. "Something evil in the air, yes, something evil." He hissed, talking more to himself than to the hobbit, "we must go faster, but the yellow face glares at us, precious, hobitses should not move... He will see..." Gollum seemed to be having an internal battle. To go on and get away from the strange scent, but face the risk of sunlight- or to stop and hide, but take the chance of being found by something evil.  
  
Sam's senses pricked up as Gollum spoke, 'something evil in the air,' he thought slowly. It was exactly what he had been thinking just a few moments earlier, suddenly everything from the wind to the water around them seemed sinister. "I say we should press on," he said quickly, glancing nervously over his shoulder as the marsh yawned wide behind them, "the sun's weak and is barely giving enough light to see."  
  
Gollum shook his head and fell silent, looking around constantly and never keeping quite still. He was like a little flittering bird, ready to take flight if any danger happened to pounce. "Even in pale light He can see, yes, He is everywhere." Gollum was getting more and more restless as the seconds passed, fidgeting and looking around with wide eyes.  
  
"What do you suppose we should do Frodo?" Sam asked, turning his attention upon the ring bearer.  
  
Frodo frowned and looked to the sky- the sun seemed to be growing stronger as the day grew older, it had changed from an anorexic shade of lemon to a pale, cheerful yellow in just half an hour- and it wasn't even midday yet. "I think... We should stop. The sun keeps getting brighter and brighter."  
  
Gollum studied Frodo, it was a wise choice as getting caught in the open by Sauron was far worse than being found by any other evil creature. He sure as hell didn't want Him to get the ring either. "Clever master! Hobitses rest and Smeagol watches." He announced, spotting a large rock protruding from the ground not too far off.  
  
Sam glanced wearily at Gollum, he still didn't trust the strange creature and probably never would. He was still bound to the ring and would use the first possible opportunity he got to take it from Frodo; even if it required force. Sam sighed wearily, "It's settled then." He said as an icy blast of wind, howling and shrieking, whipped past his face. "All settled."  
  
~*~  
  
Satomi walked on, always aware of her surroundings and the sounds in the air. Being caught off guard was not an option at this point- she couldn't let herself be distracted by the job of tracking down her prey. The girl growled and shook her head, she was getting impatient, "It can't too far from here," she whispered in irritation. The tracks in the mud were fresh, faint, but fresh- only perhaps an hour or so old. By now Satomi had ascertained that whatever she was following would definitely be no match for her, the odd footprint she had spotted here and there showed something small, not necessarily frail, but still too weak to harm her in any way.  
  
"Whatever you are, I'll make sure to hunt you down before the day's over." Satomi said, snarling and curling a hand, tipped with claw-like nails, over a gleaming scythe. It was mounted on a twisted black handle and curved round from the top, down to a fine, deadly point. The blade was strong enough to pierce the skull of a fully grown orc, and would soon come to personally meet her prey.  
  
"Not a sound in the air," she said to herself, letting a small whisper of a sigh float through her blood-flecked, serrated fangs, "it's almost if this place itself is dead. Dead and forgotten."  
  
Not usually one to hang around and talk to herself, Satomi quickened her pace, her eyes darting to and fro across the ground and her ears straining to catch a break in the cheerless silence. The stagnant water was shifting with the wind, rippling towards the strange girl and lapping at her feet. Beckoning to her. It made Satomi's mind shift, her concentration slipping with the sighs of the wind and the whispers of the gently nodding grass.  
  
"Somewhere, my dears, somewhere you're bound to slip up, and when you do I'll hear you, I swear it you'll be dead before the sun turns dips in the sky." She whispered, her last words ending in a feverish shriek.  
  
She'd said it loud, the words echoed and shattered the silence around her like the anguished cry of a wandering spectre. She paused and her eyes widened. She'd blown it. A whistle of wind swept through the marsh, almost cackling as it hit Satomi's ears. A flash of red crept before her eyes and she snarled, her short temper upon breaking point.  
  
There was no doubt about it, Satomi knew instinctively that her prey had heard her words, they had been alerted. What had possessed her to speak so loud? Satomi clutched her scythe to her side, the question infesting her mind. Usually she was the perfect hunter, silent, swift and alert to every sign. What had gone wrong?!  
  
Now, as the girl changed her stance against the wind, she realised it was no longer a simple game of stalker, now it was more, a game of tag almost, they were running and it was her job to get them. A simple game, Satomi always trained her mind to think of big tasks as games; just with high stakes.  
  
She let a slow, demonic smile tug at the corners of her mouth. 'a game,' she thought letting a wave of childish pleasure sweep over her, 'just a simple act of fun.' She pondered the thought of mercilessly hunting down whatever frightened, squeaking creature she was tracking for a minute and suddenly lent her head back so she was glaring up at the sky, a strange glittering quality entering her eyes. 'With a little luck this may be fun after all.' With that the strange, sinster girl opened her mouth and let out a long, ominous screech. It was now a case of predator versus prey.  
  
~*~  
  
"Do you think that this place'll do Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked, letting his gaze trail over the huge rock that loomed out in front of him. It was a dull grey and had a knife-like quality about it as it leant to one side, ever so slowly being dragged down into the mud. It was completely smattered with wet clumps of moss and sludge. "I'm afraid it'll have to Sam," he replied, sighing through his nose, "it's not like there's any other kind of shelter about this place."  
  
The jagged rock rose up out of a pool of stangnant sludge, smelling strongly of something that died a long time ago. It made Frodo want to go back to the shire more than ever, so comfy, so warm and welcoming. It was a complete contrast to the desolate landscape they had somehow stumbled into.  
  
Gollum, not caring about the smell, had climbed up onto the rock and was watching the marsh carefully. Just a few minutes ago the three companions had heard something, it was like a frenzied shout in a blurred language or maybe a type of demon tongue spoken in disorted words. This had made Gollum increasingly edgy and he drummed his long fingers on the rock, glaring at the hobits as he did.  
  
"Hobitses should hide now, not complain about shelter, yes, always complaining." He muttered, a green flicker flashing in and out of his eye as he spoke, "like childrens."  
  
"Just shut up, we didn't ask you for anything so you needn't speak to us." Sam growled back, trying to avoid falling into a deep pool of sludge to his left.  
  
"Leave him be, Sam, he seems to know best and anyway..." Frodo stopped talking abruptly and his eyes widened, the anxious expression he had been wearing melting into pure, utter horror. A look of panic dancing in his eyes as his hand sprang up to clutch at the ring. Sam only had a second to frown in confusion and wonder. The answer to Frodo's behaviour became clear soon enough. A long, loud screech hit their ears, piercing the air with a horrible ferocity. It echoed from somewhere only a few miles down the marsh. It was an unearthly sound, almost purely demonic in tone.  
  
The one long note hung in the air for what seemed like an age, striking an icy dagger of fear deep into the hobbits' hearts and sending gollum into state of panic  
  
"Wraiths! Demonses! Something evil, something evil so close. So so close, it hears us, gollum, it knows we is here!" The poor, gaunt creature slid off the rock and started trying to pry Frodo from the spot, hissing and spitting out words that made no sense.  
  
"We must go! It finds us, it finds us!" He wailed sinking his claws into Frodo's leg and forcefully pulling him out of his state of shock.  
  
The hobbit stumbled and suddenly regained his senses, the shock had momentarily overtaken him, binding him to the spot. At once Frodo shook himself free of Gollum's claws, exchanging one terrified look with Sam.  
  
Sam stood and swallowed heavily, quivering with fear. Suddenly, without warning, another shrill screech swept through the area, colder and definately nearer than the last, it was almost on top of them. An icy chill ran down Frodo's spine, freezing him to the core with fright.  
  
~*~  
  
Kwahaha... chapter one ^.~ Will Frodo, Sam and Gollum get hunted down and have their necks ripped apart...? We'll see, maybe if I get enough reviews, I'll tell you ^____^  
  
~*~  
  
Preview of Chapter 2: Creeping Darkness.  
  
~*And it was at that exact moment that the hand made a re-appearance. It shot downwards and secured itself around Frodo's throat, the delicate, pale fingers crushing his neck mercilessly. His eyes went wide, he started to choke and kick wildly as a second hand joined his throat and he was viciously yanked upwards.  
  
Frodo was pulled up and over the edge of the arch, the hands tightening their grip on him. A shock of red flashed before his eyes and he gagged as he was twisted around and his back was slammed against the jagged rock. He found himself face to face with a pair of eyes, cruel and narrowed, a cold shade of green, they held no mercy as one of the hands was removed from his throat and slammed into the side of his face.  
  
"I knew I'd find you."*~  
  
0_____o Frodo ish in trouble x_X  
  
Read and review~!!! *Waves before hauling a wriggling bag labelled, 'Legolas' over her shoulder and walking off* kwa ha ha... 


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